On Thursday March 21, Venezuela adopted a law affirming its sovereignty over Essequibo, an oil-rich territory administered by neighboring Guyana; the latter denounced, Friday, a “flagrant violation of its sovereignty”. The Venezuelan legislation, approved unanimously in plenary session of Parliament, was submitted to the Supreme Court which must validate its constitutionality.
The law was drafted by President Nicolas Maduro after the referendum organized in December 2023 on the annexation of the disputed region. It designates the territory as a new state of Venezuela, governed from the town of Tumeremo, located in the neighboring Venezuelan state of Bolivar.
” We did it “rejoiced after the vote Jorge Rodriguez, president of Parliament and one of the main promoters of the text. “This National Assembly confirms the right of the Venezuelan people to defend their territory”for his part declared Diosdado Cabello, considered the number two in Venezuelan power.
Venezuela accused of “illegal expansionism”
For its part, Guyana declared in a press release “seriously concerned” by the adoption of this law, considering that it “This is a blatant violation of [sa] sovereignty ». The country called on the international community to “enforce the rule of law by rejecting Venezuela’s illegal expansionism”.
A territory of 160,000 km² rich in natural resources, Essequibo is at the center of strong tensions between the two countries after the launch, in September 2023, of oil tenders by Guyana in the territory, which pushed Caracas to organize its referendum. This gave as a result a “overwhelming victory” (96.33%) to the question on the integration of the region into Venezuela.
Some 125,000 people, or a fifth of Guyana’s population, live in Essequibo, which covers two-thirds of the country’s land area. Venezuela maintains that the Essequibo River should be the natural border between the two countries, as in 1777 during the time of the Spanish Empire. Guyana, for its part, assures that the border, dating from the English colonial era, was ratified in 1899 by an arbitration court in Paris.